How to Incentivize Oncology

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In oncology, we have dismantled the system that is meant to tell these two apart real innovation from pseudo innovation end quote explain. I'm happy to incentivize drugs that are really transformational drugs that turn once fatal diseases to diseases with near normal life expectancy should have a large return on investment. But we kept away from products that don't benefit people.

Oncologist and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad argues that too many very expensive drugs get approved by the FDA that have very limited impact on the lives of patients. Prasad explains the incentives that distort the current system. The general problem, he explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts, is the death of duty--too many players in the health care landscape and elsewhere stay quiet or do the wrong thing in order to serve themselves.